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just like some thoughts on this idea please

hazadaks

Member
Apr 1, 2008
2
0
11
hi all, as above just thinking about chipping in with a few mates and getting ourselves a dive tank set up as we are sick of getting half a game and our air running out then having to go back to co2!! or travel 70 mile round trip to our nearest paintball shop to get re filled!!!! its crap lol, so am wondering what size tank etc we need as we have never thought about this before.... i know we need the adaptors, bottle but what other stuffwill we need and roughly how much are we looking at would you say to be able to do get the stuff?? thanks in advance :)
 

Lump

one case one kill
Sep 20, 2004
12,725
874
198
54
in the ABYSS
you can pick up a 300bar tank, will fill 4/5 smaller bottles a few times. more than enough
 

Gadget

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
1,759
619
148
Essex, UK
As lump said, go for a 12 litre 300bar tank, used to find that one tank between two would last all day at a tournament, although your mileage may vary.

If you buy new you're looking at around £230 for one with a dive valve, plus £60 for a fill station, although LIPS do tanks with fill stations built into the valve for £240. Worth looking out for a second hand one, as they come up on the for sale forums now and then for £100-120 second hand. About a fiver to get refilled at a dive centre and they need to be retested every 5 years (when retesting make sure you tell them it's for surface use and not diving, as the retest interval for diving tanks is 2 years rather than 5). There's no end-of-life date on steel tanks, unlike marker air bottles.

http://www.lpspaintball.biz/acatalog/Air_Co2_System_Accessories.html
 

Rebel Tackleberry

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2010
122
99
53
I went down this route myself about 2 months ago, finding various prices on cylinders and working out what I needed to put a fill station together for myself.

If you are using 4500 psi HPA then you're going to need a 300 Bar Dive Cylinder (around 4350 psi). The largest you can get in 300 Bar is a 12L Cylinder. You can get 15L in the cheaper 232 Bar (around 3300psi).

I ended up buying from UnderwaterWorld (http://www.underwaterworld.co.uk/acatalog/Cylinders_Section.html) at Stoney Cove in Stoney Stanton. They don't list the 300 Bar cylinders on their online shop though. I had to ring for those but they had them in stock, where as everywhere else didn't and would have to order in for me. That was kind of lucky in the end as I'd have paid a higher price if other places had them in stock to get one quickly. As it happened I found the place with them in stock also happened to be the least expensive.

I was looking for one for our next trip to the local field so wanted somewhere I could collect. The highest I was quoted for a 12L 300 Bar was £274 at Midland Dive Equipment in Leicester. Dive Shop in northampton quoted £200 and UnderwaterWorld at £175 for 12L 300 Bar Faber Steel Cylinder.

I ended up buying 2 x 12L 300 Bar Cylinders with twinning bands to make a 2 stage cascade fill system for a total of £400. Since I collected them they filled both cyclinders for free on collection.

For a 300 Bar cylinder you'll need a 'DIN' Fill Station, rather than an 'A Clamp' one (to be used on 232 Bar Cylinders). I bought a DIN Fill Station (includes guage and purge valve) for £64 delivered from London International Paintball Supplies. I really need to get another as it is a pain to move it across each time you do a 2 stage fill.

The 12L 300 Bar with built-in Fill Station at LiPS is a good price at £240 when you consider even a well priced cylinder at £175 plus £64 for a DIN fill station £239. Also, you are guaranteed that this only needs testing every 5 years, rather than 2, as it CANNOT be used for diving as it doesn't have a standard dive valve. Even though you don't use the standard cylinder for diving I think you'll find it has to have a hydrostatic test every 2 years as it COULD be used for diving. You may find that if a standard cylinder isn't within a 2 year date then many Dive shops won't fill it.

With 2 12L Cylinders I've had around 14-15 fills so far before it's dropped below 3000 psi into my 1.1L Fibre Wrap HPA bottle. I reckon I can get about 20 fills before it gets down to just above 2000 psi.

Refill for a 300 Bar 12L Cylinder costs £3.50 at my nearest shop, Midland Divig Equipment, in Leicester. So, that's £7 for 15 paintball fills to 3000psi, going to around 20 useful fills until I get to about 2000 psi.

Hope that helps.
 

Rebel Tackleberry

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2010
122
99
53
mikebeeby you might try bulk filling from one tank and then using the other to top up. might work better maybe
That's why I bought 2 cylinders:-

mickbeeby said:
...2 x 12L 300 Bar Cylinders with twinning bands to make a 2 stage cascade fill system ...
I have a 1.1L Fibre Wrap 4500psi bottle and I get to about 15 fills before fills drop below 3000psi.

A friend is now talking about getting a single cylinder too so when we are at site together we'll run them as a 3 stage cascade which will enable us to maintain 4000 psi for at least 10 fills and be around 22 fills before we drop below 3000 psi.